Russia has announced it has completed the full shipment of Tor M-1 missiles to Iran. Russian Defence Minister Sergey Ivanov has stated that the missiles are purely for defence purposes, and have a limited range. But the United States criticized the $700 million deal, which comes at a time that the international community is seeking to pressurize Iran into giving up its nuclear programme. 

Quote: "Defense Ministry officials previously said Moscow would supply 29 of the sophisticated missile systems to Iran under a $700 million contract signed in December 2005, according to Russian media reports. Ivanov said last week that at least some of the missiles had been sent, the first high-level confirmation that their delivery took place despite US complaints.

Iran is using the missile systems to defend it's nuclear installations from attack. The Tor M-1 is a mobile guided missile launcher that is capable of taking out fighter aircraft, helicopters, UAVs, guided missiles and precision weapons, such as laser-guided bombs and cruise missiles. The system can operate in intensive radar-jammed environments.

Quote: "Tor M1 can detect and track up to 48 targets (minimum radar cross section of 0.1 square meter) at a maximum range of 25 km, and engage two of them simultaneously, at a speed of up to 700 m/sec, and at a distance of 1 to 12 km. The system's high lethality (aircraft kill probability of 0.92-0.95) is maintained at altitude of 10 – 6,000 m'.

Short range or not, Israel and the US will have their work cut out if they will attempt a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities before April 2007.

Source FARS, Defense Update